


Black and white and fading crimson

by AyeAyeAye



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Andrew Minyard Has Feelings, Andrew’s past, Angst with a Happy Ending, Baltimore, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt Neil Josten, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Neil Josten as Nathaniel Wesninski, POV Andrew Minyard, Protective Andrew Minyard, but also they’re soulmates, its subtle though, references to abuse faced by andrew, the riot and neil’s return from Andrew’s POV, you see less colour the closer your soulmate is to death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:34:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26122024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyeAyeAye/pseuds/AyeAyeAye
Summary: Andrew Minyard doesn’t want anything to do with his soulmate, until he does.OR: a quick flick through important parts of the foxhole court, from Andrew’s POV.Plus a soulmate AU where the colour you see relates to how close your soulmate is to death.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 40
Kudos: 383





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like it :)

Blue was always the first colour to go for Andrew. He blinked at the sky a few times, but the colour didn’t clear. It was a slow fading, though, only taking blue for now, so his mate wasn’t dead yet. He took another bite of ice cream. Besides, it wasn’t as if this wasn’t a regular occurrence. Every few months or so, a slow fade into greys. First blue would go, and then reds would bleach to nothingness, and then usually the colour would return. It seemed his mate, whoever they were, lived a bit dangerously. Andrew had half the mind to get himself on the edge of death to show them how irritating it was, but he’d only do that if he cared. And he didn’t. He didn’t join the foxes because someone who lived dangerously might be found there.

He stabbed his ice cream a few times with his spoon. Kevin frowned at him, and he offered a smile.

“What?” Kevin demanded. Andrew smiled brightly at him.

“Oh nothing! I’m not seeing much, really. Lacking in colour. Maybe they’ve finally kicked the bucket! How inconvenient.” Kevin frowned again.

“I’m sure she’ll be okay.” Andrew forced himself to keep his mouth shut. The haze of his drugs rendered it a monumental effort. His soulmate was a girl, everyone said. He didn’t want her. Not at all. He knew sometimes soulmates were the same sex. His cousin had proved it when he went to Germany and returned telling Andrew about how much more vibrant yellow was. That was the other thing. No soulmate, no colour. But when you met them, you could see everything clearer. If Andrew ever bothered to find his soulmate, he decided, it would be so that he could better his eye sight. Because the universe had never been kind to him, and so he was sure his soulmate would be a girl. Everyone had always assumed they were. Kevin clicked his spoon on his bowl, and Andrew was pulled from his mind.

~~~

“Don’t say stupid things,” Andrew said.

“Stop me,” Neil replied, and Andrew didn’t care about how dull Neil’s eyes looked. They weren’t as blue as they should be. He knew what this meant, but Neil was right in front of him. He didn’t want it, he never wanted this. But — Neil. Neil’s mouth was inches from his, then it was on his, and he knew they were sitting on this bus and he needed to let go, but it was so easy to slide his hand onto Neil’s thigh and forget. He wanted this. He wanted Neil. For a tantilising moment, he let himself believe Neil was his soulmate. Then he pulled away from the kiss.

~~~~

Andrew stared at the court in front of him. Neil has promised him anything if he shut down the goal.

“Stay,” he’d told him months ago. He wanted the same thing, but never asked for something twice. Exy was a viscous monotony, but Neil has asked him, so he played as if we were as high on the sport as the junkie was himself. They won.

Andrew frowned at the rush that filled his body. Endorphins had charged through him even as he watched a fight break out mere feet away. He swivelled to find Neil, Kevin. Neil has guided Kevin around the outskirts. Fuck. He recognised that rush now. It wasn’t the rush from the game itself: no, the rush was from doing so well what Neil has asked.

He idly leaned back as the fight was broken up by three referees. Boredom was setting in beneath his exhaustion.

When Neil walked away to do press duty, Andrew inclined his head instead of following his instincts, and drifted instead towards the locker room. That didn’t stop him from silently standing under the spraying water until he heard Neil enter. He cursed himself a little for this. Meaningless. He forced himself to change out and leave the room without glancing in Neil’s direction.

~~~

The first words Neil said when he entered were, “I’m sorry.”

There was something wrong, Andrews mind screamed. Wrong, wrong, wrong. He stalked past his teammates and stood a few feet from Neil. Neil looked pained.

”Thank you,” Neil said, and Andrew stared hard at him as his world sharpened in colour. “You were amazing.” Again, his vision flared brighter before it clicked into a normalcy. Andrew opened his mouth, closed it.

Mate. Neil was his soulmate.

Andrew let them be guided outside in a daze. He kept one eye on Kevin, but mostly looked to the ground. Neil was his soulmate.

Fuck.

Then there was a crowd pushing against him and punches being thrown and Kevin, where was Kevin. His eye throbbed where it has been struck by an elbow. He did not believe in god, but he prayed that was why the sky looked so dull.

Where was he, where was he, where was he? Andrew tried to call out for Neil, but Kevin had slipped and Andrew had to stop him from being trampled to death. He hauled Kevin back to his feet and looked around wildly. He caught a flash of red hair somewhere in the crowd and charged in that direction, dragging kevin with him. Not Neil. Where was he? Kevin copped a blow to his side and Andrew forced his panic away. He had no promises to Neil. He needed to keep Kevin safe. (But neil was his mate, his mate, his mate—) He needed to keep Kevin safe.

~~~

Andrew had been watching his surroundings for the past half hour. There was no more blue. The brilliance of colours he’d seen when he’d realised Neil was his soulmate, all of that had disappeared. Neil was hurt, wherever he was. Andrew twitched violently but he didn’t abandon Kevin. The crowds had mostly cleared now, he reasoned, so he set out for the fox bus with Kevin at his side.

He rocked to a halt when he found Neil’s duffel. Everything went quiet around him for one second, two, then Andrew had pulled his knives out and was striding towards the bus. He let Kevin pick up the bag. “Thank you. You were amazing.” He slammed a shoulder against the bus door to get it open, then forced his way up the steps. He looked around wildly. Where is he? Aaron gave him a strange look and he wondered if he’d said it out loud.

“Neil,” he said. “Has anyone seen Neil?” Heads shook, and Andrew’s heart sped up. He knew what this was, it was the same feeling he’d had the first time he’d been pushed down by drake. This was panic. Pure, undiluted panic.

_Where is he?_ He didn’t know what to do. His mate had been taken from him, Neil had been taken, and there was no way to — Kevin.

“Where is he,” Andrew snarled at Kevin, and Kevin flinched. Andrew didn’t care. He flung open the bus door and ran out. Maybe they’d find him out there. Maybe he was just lying on the floor somewhere.

“Neil,” he called, and he hated how flat the word sounded. He hated how unconcerned he appeared. “Abram!” Louder this time. Nothing. Still Andrew searched. Hours of phone calls and watching colours fading from his vision. At one point, he stumbled away and found a quiet alley, then lit a cigarette in shaking hands. He thought he hadn’t lit it at first, but realised with a jolt he just couldn’t see the red tip. Something similar to fear settled into his bones. There was nothing left to do. He stood slowly.

He wondered what the world would look like in monotone.

There wasn’t much left for the imagination. Slowly, ever so slowly, he walked back towards the bus, unflipping his phone on instinct. A ringtone played out, muffled by the bag, but there all the same. He cut the bag open, slammed his phone shut. Wymack showed up, finally. Too slow. He shook his head, but pulled out his phone. Andrew dug Neil’s phone out himself. It showed a call from an unknown number, and a single text. “0”. All it took was a single glance at the area code and Kevin was scrambling back, cursing. Anger set in over the panic. Andrew stood slowly and stalked towards Kevin.

“Where is he,” he demanded. Kevin shook his head. Andrews hand was at Kevin’s throat before Kevin could even flinch. “Where the _fuck_ is he?” Neil was gone. His soulmate was gone. Andrew looked around wildly, searching for signs that he was alive. There — Neil’s duffel was a faded orange, but a tinge of orange all the same. Not enough. If Neil was dying, he didn’t have long. Wymack cursed behind him. He knew, Andrew realised dully. He knew that Neil was Andrew’s mate, or he was realising it.

“They’ve got him.” Andrew stopped. His grip loosened for a second. “The FBI have found Neil.” Kevin let out a small sound. Andrew allowed himself one long breath, two. Then he tightened his grip on Kevin’s throat.

“When I let go,” he said lightly, almost conversationally, “you are going to tell me who Neil is, really. And why he’s gone.” He turned to Wymack then. “Is he injured?” Of course he was. Andrew was practically seeing in black and white. Wymack stared at him like he’d never seen him before. 

“He’s alive. They’re working on him now.” Andrew nodded once then turned to Kevin and released him.

“Tell me everything.”

~~~

The team had been escorted out one by one. Kevin, himself, Wymack left. Now, one of them beckoned towards Kevin, who was rubbing his throat and staring at nothing.

“Mr Day. Come through.” Andrew wanted to let them take him. If he hadn’t been looking after Kevin, he could’ve held onto Neil. Instead, he released a firm, “No.” Kevin jerked towards the sound, and made no move to follow the agent away. Andrew stood slowly, ignored Wymack’s warning glare. 

“No,” he repeated, and put himself in between the two men. He wondered if they’d shoot him if he gave them the chance.

“Mr Minyard,” the man said, fingers twitching towards his belt, “I was told you’d be a problem.”

Andrew knew logically that the man was reaching for cuffs, or his taser, but he was already reacting to the other threat, and he’d jerked Kevin backwards and thrown a punch towards the man in the space of a second. They should’ve been told not to touch him. He struggled more the more hands he felt touch his body, and only stopped kicking when Wymack pulled one of them off him and got between him and the other one.

“I wouldn’t,” he panted. “You don’t touch him.” He glanced back to Andrew, who nodded briefly.

The feds had been furious, especially the one with the split lip, but Wymack pulled them aside and eventually, he let them be handcuffed together. Let Kevin go. As if that would stop him from trying to find Neil. The second he’d seen the crimson staining his knuckles, he’d tried to find him.

“...in there now. We’ll bring in the other Minyard.” Andrew had only caught the end of the sentence, but he tugged in his cuff to alert Wymack and they walked for the door.

The journey from the room to where Neil was was so, so, slow. They stopped a few floors down.

“Remember,” the Fed said to Andrew. “You only get-“ He was cut off by a noise from inside the nearest room. It was a voice, and it was quiet, but it was unmistakably Neil’s.

Andrew shoved through the door without hesitation. He didn’t even allow himself a second to take in the scene, just concerned with reaching out for his mate, telling him he was an idiot, kissing him senseless, punching his stupid face. The cop in the room reacted, and so did Neil, lunging for the gun and shoving it away from them both. Andrew turned to knock him down — if Neil wanted to fight his way out, Andrew would join him — but Neil doubled over. Fuck.

_Fuck_.

He curled a hand around the back of Neil’s neck _(mate, mate, mate)_ and shoved him to the floor ( _I’ve got you_ ). All other sounds faded away as he gripped Neil’s chin, forcing his eyes onto Andrew’s own. Please, please, let Neil see it too.

“Abram,” Andrew muttered, too quiet for anyone else to hear. Andrew squeezed with his right hand just a little. He needed to tell Neil somehow. Maybe with his eyes, somehow let him know that they were soulmates. That he was with Neil no matter what. He shifted slightly so that Neil’s gaze was fixed on his instead of the bruises.

Neil’s eyes flared with shock, then recognition, and then with a startling, striking blue as Andrew’s world snapped back into colour.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!  
> I’m so sorry to all the lovelies in the comments who had to wait so long.   
> Life really looked at my plans and said ‘no ❤️‘  
> I know it’s short, but I hope you like it!

Neil knew the riot was part of his father’s plan, but he still had the nerve to feel vaguely offended that the fans had gotten so riled. It was an odd half-thought in the back of his mind. Mainly, he was staring at the back of Andrew’s head, trying to memorise the way his hair caught the sunlight. If he was saying goodbye, then at least let him take this memory with him.

The crowd surged, and he felt himself dragged one direction, saw Andrew instinctively half-turn in his direction before diving towards Kevin - and then there was something pressed against his back, as cold as the barrel of a gun. 

Shit, that’s the barrel of a gun. 

He registered somewhere in the back of his mind that these thoughts were an initial hysteria. Romero grabbed him by the wrist, striding faster, and Neil dared a last glance back to where he’d seen Andrew. 

~~~~

“You look just like your father,” Lola said, and rocked her hips against his once. 

Nathaniel wanted to throw up, but settled for, “and you look like a strung out whore.”

Every word stumbling from his tongue out him one step closer to falling apart. When Lola flicked the lighter on again playfully, he shut his eyes tightly. 

He thought of the only thing that seemed to calm him. He may not have Andrew’s eidetic memory, but he could remember in perfect clarity the line of his jaw, the smooth skin of his neck, the near-constant warning in his eyes. 

“Thank you,” he’d said. “You were amazing.”

He hadn’t apologised, then, and not only because of the others in the room. He hadn’t thought Andrew would appreciate it. _I’m sorry,_ he thought now. _Andrew, Andrew I’m sorry. It was stolen time we had and I wish there was more, but there wasn’t, and I’m sorry. And_ — he flinched against the heat drawing him dangerously close to reality — _and remember you let me go. You let me go, Andrew, but I’m sorry._

The flame pressed to his shoulder blade and he gasped out a ragged breath. 

There was no more time for thoughts beyond the pain. 

~~~

His father was dead. 

He’d won. 

~~~

Andrew’s hand on the back of his neck rocked Nathaniel’s reality back into the present. 

“Abram.”

Whispered into his hair as they slid to the floor, and Nathaniel squeezed his eyes shut, just so he could sense Andrew beside him without being overwhelmed by the tightness of it. 

True grip on his neck tightened, so he forced his eyes open for Andrew. 

Immediately, his gaze snagged on a purple bruise, then he flicked his eyes to Andrew’s own. 

Fuck. 

The warning in Andrew’s eyes made Nathaniel remember to breathe. 

The hand shifting against his neck made him uncurl his still-agonising fingers. 

The hazel of those eyes that was now almost gold wiped away all progress of calming down. 

Nathaniel startled, and Andrew’s mouth tightened just a little bit. 

And Neil Josten figured out what he’d always known, somewhere, what he’d always kept inside of him. 

“My mate,” he tried to say, but it came out instead as a tiny, keening sound in the back of his throat. He swallowed.

“They could’ve blinded you,” he finally said instead. “All that time fighting, and you never learned how to duck?”

Neil could see the desperation in Andrew’s eyes, though, and resolved to stay quiet while he examined him. 

One by one, his bandages were ripped away. 

“Christ, Neil,” Wymack said from behind Andrew. Neil felt, rather than saw, Andrew tense next to him. 

Neil locked his eyes on Andrew’s (golden, golden eyes) to show he was okay. 

“I’m sorry,” he tried, because Andrew must’ve been seeing in greyscale for the past few hours. 

Andrew’s fist flew back, and Neil didn’t flinch. If Andrew punched him, he’d probably deserve it. 

A glance back to Andrew’s eyes told him he needn’t worry. 

“Later,” Andrew said, and it was more a promise that they’d talk than a threat. 

Neil nodded, and steeled himself. 

Another glance at Andrew’s eyes (was that concern underneath the fury?) was enough that he could square his shoulders. 

His mate was here. It finally felt like time to stop running. 

~~~

“Neil,” Andrew said, hooking his fingers into the edges of Neil’s armbands. 

It wasn’t a question, so Neil didn’t respond, just waited. 

“Neil,” Andrew repeated, as if he was testing the name in his mouth. 

“Neil. My - Neil.” Neil hummed to show he was still listening, and Andrew tugged at the cloth on his wrists to get his attention. 

“I was seeing black and white.”

“Today?”

“No.” Andrew rolled his eyes. “Baltimore.”

“Your eyes are gold,” Neil shot back (I felt it too). “Now,” he added. 

Andrew levelled a hard stare at him.

“I’m not going to take anything that’s not mine to take.” 

Neil understood immediately. “You believe in soulmates?”

“I didn’t,” Andrew replied. A long pause, and Neil let the silence hang between them. “I think I could with you.”

He blinked. He could definitely settle with that. 

“Yes or no?”

“No,” Andrew said, and Neil froze. “I need a response, verbal. To - soulmates.”

“I did,” Neil said. “And then I didn’t, because my mom told me it was useless. And then... then I did again. I want — I want what you’ll give me.”

Andrew twitched slightly.

“Yes or no?” It was barely a whisper. 

“Yes,” Neil said, and Andrew shifted his fingers to Neil’s hair. 

“You’re one to talk,” he said, pulling Neil closer. 

“What?”

“Your eyes are so fucking blue.”

Neil grinned, and it was foolishly hopeful, and he knew Andrew rolled his eyes, but he was pulled into a kiss anyway, and he found he didn’t care how stupid he looked. 

There was a future, there, waiting for him - and it was _bright._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that’s this story done! Once again, apologies for the delay. And I’d like to say I’m happy to take requests on anything AFTG - I’ll get to them faster now that life’s settled down.   
> Thank you for reading!!! Please tell me what you thought (comments make my day)

**Author's Note:**

> What did you enjoy? Also, if you guys want, I can write more (on this AU; the conversation they have after, or literally anything)  
> Thanks for reading!!!


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